After It Was Canceled
by Wild Encounter
Summary: What if a cartoon that was canceled had it's own little world? What if they felt feelings like everyone else? This is one of these worlds and the relationship that took place. WARNING! There are a few chapters in this story that have EXTREME blood and gore. Readers. are. advised.
1. At The Launch

Author's Note.

This is just a test run to see how this goes. To test the waters, so to speak. If this seems to unfold like an actual story, then ok, we'll roll from there. If not, then this will be lost in one of the deepest darkest corners of the internet where no one can find it. So, let's get started, shall we?

* * *

_What if all of the old cartoons that you watched as a kid were real, and were in their own, little, TV world. That lasted far past when they were cancelled. Would you believe it? Would you believe that it was all true? As a little kid, yeah. You would. But as an adult? Not likely. Well, I can at least tell you of one of these worlds. __It's the best place to b__e. Have you heard of a little cartoon called 'Invader Zim'?_

Dib watched as a rocket landed in front of Zim's house. "Man, he's actually leaving. I thought he was joking." He said as he walked up the steps to the door. He was nervous of the lawn gnomes that normally scanned him as he walked up. He scowled at them, hoping that Zim was watching the monitors connected to their cameras. Dib reached up to knock the door, but it suddenly swung open. Zim was standing at the door way, holding Gir's hand. "Hey Dib..." Zim said in an sad sounding voice. "What are you planning Zim, I know you're up to something!" Dib said, as he pointed to Zim and the rocket. Gir started to cry loudly as he grabbed Zim's leg. "IT'S NOT FAIR! IT'S NOT! I WANT TO STAY HERE!" Gir screamed, as Zim rubbed his eyes. "Gir, I'm sorry, but remember. The mission isn't over for Irken Rule. I convinced Taz to let me send you to her, and allow you to stay there for a while. If the Tallest contact you, say that Earth was taken over, but to not send anyone to populate. Do you hear me?" Zim explained to Gir, while Dib watched. "Is it true?" Dib asked in a worried tone of voice. "Yeah. I just didn't want to fight for a while. Stay here. A mini-vacation, you know?" Zim said, as he walked Gir to the doorway into the rocket. "IT'S NOT *sniff* FAIR! I *sniff* I *sniff*" "Gir, It will only be for 3 months. That's all. After that, I bet you won't want to leave Taz, like you won't want to leave me." Zim said to him with tears in his eyes. "Now go to Taz, Gir. I owe her big time after this so, I may see you early." Zim said. Gir silently nodded and walked into the rocket. He turned around and waved with tears in his eyes. Zim did the same.

**_*BOOOOOOM*_**

The rocket blasted off and left Zim and Dib alone. Dib turned to Zim and asked "Mini-Vacation?" "Yeah. I want to try to be a human for a change. No alien stuff helping me. Just trying to live like a human. Who knows, I might even change my house so it doesn't act like an alien hideout. I want to go to middle school. I want to be normal, or as normal as I can be." Zim said, while tears rolled down his eyes. It seemed that he was still torn up about Gir leaving. "Well, If you want, I can let you stay at my place, if you want to get away from all of this alien stuff. But you can't be a jerk about it. So no 'DIIIIIB' this, or no 'I AM ZIIIIIIIIIM' that. You're a human. Not an alien who wants to take over the earth. And don't take my liver and replace it with a cooked one like you did last week. Do we have a deal?" Dib asked him, while thinking that that was a stupid idea. "Why should I trust you?" Zim asked him. "Because I know that under all of that evil stuff, you actually have emotions." Dib said to him.

"Deal."


	2. The Longest 3 Months

Author's Note

Just remember that this is testing the waters. I have no plan to make this a 'new chapter every day' sort of deal. Mostly because I'm working on something that will be put out tomorrow. No spoilers. So you can check it out if you want to. Anyways, back to the story! This will be the last one of these, unless I'm going through some hard times, and don't post anything for a while. Sincerely, the worst nickname for an Irken ever,

Wild Encounter.

* * *

Zim was walking around his house. Saying goodbye to all of his things. "Goodbye, fridge. I'll miss you." "Goodbye, TV. I'll miss you." "Goodbye, Bathr-" "CAN WE GO NOW?" Dib violently screamed to Zim. "Fine. But I need one thing. Hold on." He dashed upstairs leaving Dib in his dust. "FOUND IT!" Dib saw him walk back downstairs clutching Gir's Disguise, filled up with cotton. "Do you really want to bring... Nevermind. Let's go. The two walked out of the door. It had became nighttime while Zim was saying 'goodbye' to everything. "Come on. My house is this way." Dib said, acting like the leader all of a sudden. _"If he thinks he can boss ME around, he has another thing coming to him!"_ Zim thought as he followed him to his house. "Ahh, so this is the house of Dib, huh?" Zim asked him. "Yeah, what were you expecting, a golden palace? Come on! Let's go."

The two of them walked inside. "Dad, I'm home! And I need to ask you something!" "SHUT IT DIB!" A voice screamed from the living room. "That's Gaz. Don't worry about her. She screams all the time, you'll get used to it." Dib said as he walked into the kitchen where his dad was. Zim could only hear muffled voices coming from inside. "Please Dad, it's only for 3 months. His house had a fire and he doesn't have anywhere else to stay!" "Dib you remember the last time you let someone stay here?" "It will not happen again! I swear!" "*groan* Is he here right now?" "Yeah..." Zim walked away from the entrance. _"I'll let you deal with that, Dib."_ Zim thought as he walked over to the couch and sat down next to the girl that Dib called 'Gaz'. "If you value your life, you'll scoot away, now." "Same with you, puny... Nevermind." Zim said to the girl, who was playing with some sort of game. "So, what is that?" Zim said as he attempted to strike up a conversation. "A game." The girl said to him. "May I try?" "You try, you die." Gaz told him. _"This will be the longest time of my life." _Zim thought to himself.


	3. Confusion And A Game

"Hmm?" Zim blinked and took in his surroundings. Walls, a door, windows. TV, turned on, playing some sort of game, Gir, looking at the TV, The Girl. Sitting on the edge of the bed. Bouncing around, swinging the controller around, acting like a total spaz. But, Gir watching? No, Gir was off with Tak. Was he? Could he have not even left? Or did Taz eject him mid-flight for acting like a retarded monkey? "Gir?" Zim called out, not being able to speak due to the fact that he just woke up.

_**"AHHH!"**_

The girl jumped as she flung the controller and screamed, frightened, by Zim calling out. "What are you doing here, in my house?" Zim asked the girl. "THIS IS MY HOUSE!" The girl screamed at him. Zim was frightened, but also lost in wonder. _"How did I... Ohh. Now I remember." _"What are you doing in here, then? In here when you could be messing around downstairs?"He asked her. "*Sigh* My brother and dad started arguing on what to do with you and you walked away to the guest room. They got so loud that I couldn't even hear the game from in there. Then I remembered that there was a TV in here, walked in with my Game Slave, hooked it up, and started playing it. It's been a few hours, and it sounded like they had cooled down, so I was thinking that I would stop and leave. Then you woke up." She explained. "Gir." Zim said silently, and then grabbed the green dog disguise. "So you did leave." Zim said, with a single tear rolling down his face. He then hugged the now stuffed Disguise so he at least had one thing that reminded him of Gir. "What is that?" "It's my... Uh... I don't know how to explain it to you without you thinking that it's a lie..." He said to her. "Come on, I live with Dib, I hear lies all of the time. It's not something that I'm not used to hearing all the time." She said to him. "Yeah, I guess you're right. Gaz, was it?" Zim asked her. "Yeah. Nice to meet you, I guess... So about that doll." Gaz said to him. "Well, it's sorta my pet robot. He walks around in public with this on, but he's with someone else now." Zim was starting to tear up again. "So, you rented him from someone?" "Well, I wanted to send him to a... 'friend' of sorts." He told her. "But now you wished you didn't, now don't you?" Gaz told him, in a mocking voice. "Yeah..." He said, like a downer. _"Whiner..."_ Gaz thought, "Hey, you wanna play? It's a two player game." Gaz said, holding out a controller to him. Zim took the controller. "Fine. But remember. Zim wins all games." He said.

They had a fun time, playing games and one mocking when the other lost. Finally, they stopped playing. "*YAWNNN* I'm beat." "Same." Said Gaz, as she fell back onto the bed. Zim did the same. "So, I wanna know something." She asked him. "What?" "Why are you green and have Red eyes? Are you an alien?" Zim froze. He didn't expect her to say that. "Well, yeah. You weren't freaked out about it before, so I didn't say." Zim said, the smile on his face wiped away. "Good. I just thought that you were some hobo in makeup, so you could stay the night in a house by taking advantage of Dib." She said. Zim was then filled with all sorts of emotions. Confusion, Hatred, and Lust were the big three. There was many more, but those were the three most prominent. "Why would you-" "Hush... Time to sleep." Gaz said as she fell asleep on the pillows. Zim stopped talking and did the same.

_"Maybe these 3 months won't be so long after all..."_


	4. The Dream (Part One)

_**"LIGHTS!" "CAMERAS!"**__**"ACTION!"**_

"Zim was blinded by all of the flashing happening all around him. "Look at the green skin! So... Green!" "But those eyes! So Gothic!" "But those clothes are so modern! They really show off how the world is changing!" Zim heard it all. Complements, distasteful remarks, and things even he couldn't make out. He tried to punch one of them, but he only hit a wall. A clear wall. Glass. Polished so well that it didn't have a single impurity in it. The voices started to get muffled, and things started to slow down. It started getting hard to breath. Then, one singular comment explained it all, and stuck out from the rest. "That backpack isn't nice at all. Glad it's not tainting this amazing discovery with it's ugliness." Zim looked over to where the voice came from, and saw it. His Pak. Sitting on a rack. Inside of a case. Zim then reached out to his back, but felt nothing but bare skin. It was off. Removed. Extracted from his body. Without his consent. "I NEED THAT!" Zim screamed while pointing at the Pak Unit. But no one listened. They were all fixated on the sharp object that was slowly coming down from the top of the glass prison. "And now, we'll see what's on the insides of him..." Their eyes went white, and skin became pale. They knew what was going to happen. All of them. Except for Zim. He wasn't ready for fate to take him just yet. He started to bash his fist into the walls, and, knowing how futile that was, stopped. He started to cry. The last thing he was going to do, was cry.

_**"DUCK!" **_

Zim looked up to see the bodies of bystanders being flung like rag dolls. He then saw Gaz jump high, and throw a stone directly at the casing. He ducked.

_***CRASH***_

Glass had cut him, but at least he wasn't turned into a piece of Swiss Chesse. He leaped out, took the stone that Gaz threw, and slammed it against the case that held his Pak Unit. It wouldn't break. With the last bit of his energy, he slammed the rock into the side of the case. But it wouldn't break. His vision started to blur, and he was starting to fall over himself. That was it. He couldn't go any longer. He had to let it end. He raised the stone, which was now extremely heavy, over his head. He shed a single tear, and let go.

The sound of the stone hitting Zim's skull was horrifying. Gaz ran over to the now limp body of Zim, held it in her arms, and wept.


	5. The Dream (Part Two)

Dark, empty, just the way she liked it. No one to tell her what to do, nothing to say. Just, her. But that was when the screaming began. It was quiet at first, but it soon grew into an containable wail. No one could stop it. She screamed and screamed at the voice to stop, but not even her own screams, which were extremely loud, wouldn't tame the voice. It sounded like someone was crying Bloody Murder. Then she realized, that's exactly what the screams were saying.

_**"HELP! HELP! THERE'S BEEN A BLOODY MURDER! HELP HIM, PLEASE!"**_

It sounded male, with a slight twinge of second thoughts put behind the sound. So, she ran. She didn't know how to, but she did. In this world, she never moved, so trying to run in a place void of light, pretty darn hard. But she eventually stopped running. And saw it.

A little girl, who looked extremely similar to herself, was holding the body of a small green alien. Tears were running down her face like a torrent, a flood, a crashing Tsunami, even. Suddenly, the little girl looked at her. The girl then put her head on the head of the Alien and cried more than She had in her entire life. She finale looked down at the alien's torso. What she saw, she almost couldn't believe.

Blood. Lots of it. Covered the floor up to the girl's knees. Guts, thrown every which way over the sides of the body. Hands, under the guts, trying to scoop the still squirming organs inside of himself before he gave up. A rusty knife, thin, looking like it was sharpened recently. A chainsaw, still bloody from when the user chainsawed the bones out. A butcher's cleaver, placed over the neck, most likely as a threat. Bones and bone fragments, everywhere inside the cavity where the murderer began his or her assault. This almost made her puke. No matter how strong someone acts, they see something as disgusting as that, they get grossed out.

_**"You will help him, right? Gaz?" **_

The little girl then turned her head and showed that it was none other than her own brother. He raised his hands up to show blood stained gloves. "You're 're 're next." Dib said over and over. If he was trying to freak her out, he had done it. She looked at Dib one last time, and saw a gun. "You're next." The screams were worse than the screams she had heard before. Dib then went to work, doing exactly what he did to Zim, excluding one thing. Before he walked away, he planted a kiss, right on Gaz's forehead.


	6. Morning

_**"AHHHHHH!"**_

The two of them woke up to Dib, who was shaking the opposite end of the bed. "WHAT THE... Never mind." Gaz said as she hopped off the side of the bed. She walked over, turned Dib around so he was facing her, and slapped him clear across the face. She then walked off. "Man, what's her problem? Uhh, Zim?" Zim, was still shaking as he reached around and felt his PAK Unit. He sighed a great sigh of relief. He then gently lowered himself onto the floor, and hobbled away, like he was just hit by a car, and lived. Dib then walked into the kitchen where he heard the last bit of the conversation "-e don't tell anyone, got that?" "Deal..." What were they hiding from him, he wondered, as he entered the kitchen, which caused the two sitting at the table, to suddenly change topics. "So, do you have any other games?" "Yeah! We have fighting games, puzzle games, for Dib, and we have shooters." Gaz said. "HEY! Didn't you hear me? I said do you want something to eat?" She snapped out of her freaked out state and her rambling, and calmed down. "Is dad gone?" She asked him. "Yeah. Left a few minutes ago." He said. "Had to go to a meeting, and then a conference. He'll be gone all week." Zim scratched his head. "I still don't get it. Why were-" He was beginning to ask before Gaz covered his mouth. "He asked if we had any coffee." She said, as Dib was searching through the cabinets and drawers. "Where is it, where!" He was muttering as he grabbed the tin of ground coffee beans. "Throw them in the machine, one scoop for a cup." He said as he put it on the table where Gaz could grab it.

_**"AHA! FOUND IT!"**_

Dib said triumphantly as he held a small pill bottle above his head, shaking it like a spaz. He unscrewed the top and shook out 2 pills. He slid one over to Gaz, and ate the other. Gaz took her pill and did the same. "What are you two doing?" Zim said, confused. "Medication. Dad usually gives us each a pill, but when he leaves without telling us, he makes me get the pill bottle and get the pills." Dib said. _"Medication? For what?" _Zim wondered as he put his hand on his chin and thought. "Who wants coffee?" Gaz said as she got the tin of Coffee grounds and 3 cups. "Two." "Three." She poured the right amount into the machine and turned it on. The sound was unbearable to Zim, he started to scream as the sound just kept getting louder and louder. The loud _scraping_, and the sound of metal bending and contouring was just too much. He started to hold his hands over his ears, then left the room. The sound, still not stopping. He ran into the guest room and dove under the covers. He grabbed the pillows and held them over his ears. The sound, then, was a soft, low, sound. It then stopped. He walked back into the kitchen and saw the two siblings laughing. Zim couldn't believe it. "How are you not annoyed by that dreadful sound?" He asked. "Simple. We got used to it. Also, coffee." He was handed a cup by Gaz, who was still laughing at his expense. An alarm clock on the counter rang. "Time for skool." Dib said as he put his bag on. The two siblings walked out the door, leaving Zim, digging in his PAK for his disguise. He found it, put it on while he ran out the door.

_**"SLAM"**_


	7. Wrong

"Come on Gaz! We'll be late!" Dib said as he rapidly checked his bag for his homework and his books as he ran to the doors of the Skool building. "Coming! God, Dib, you're fine! That's the fifth time you've checked your bag!" She said as she checked her watch. 5:45. "I_ have 15 minutes to get to class, and it takes about two to get to the class room, so I have enough time to mess around on my game, maybe enough time to beat a boss." _She thought as she walked into the Skool with Dib. Zim, however, wasn't so lucky. He was covered in mud because a car ran through a puddle of mud right next to him, he was covered in scars from when the dog of Dib's Neighbors attacked him, and he was limping because he tripped and his knee landed on a rock. _"And this is just a normal trek to Skool. On the off days I'll have an arm or leg broken and be covered in blood." _He said as he entered the building.

When Zim entered the classroom and sat down, everyone was already looking at the teacher walk in. As she entered she glanced at Zim, giving him a stare of death. He didn't care. He was just happy to get in class before the late bell rung.

_**"SIT DOWN AND SHUT YOUR FACE!"**_

The teacher said as she opened her rolebook and started screaming names. Usually if a student was asleep he or she would wake up when she screamed his or her's name. _**"BOBBY!"**_"Here..." _**"ELISA!"**_"Here..." _**"STEPHEN!"**_ "Here..." _**"ZIM!"**_ He didn't answer. He wanted to see the glare of death before he said that he was present. _**"ZIM!"**_ She was getting angry. Zim looked at her. She wasn't looking at him, but he could see veins popping out of her fourhead. She looked pissed. _**"ZIM!"**_There was that award winning stare. "Here..." _**"GOOD! DIB!"**_ "Here..." _**"GAZ!"**_ "Here..." _**"EVERYONE TOGETHER!"**_ **"H-HERE!"** "Good. Now onto today's lesson. Today we'll be learning about math." Math. Those dreadful words that spelled death for who she called on. Usually she called on someone who wouldn't know the problem, but she called on Gaz last and gave her the easiest problem. She was the 'best student' to the teacher and she wouldn't- _**"GAZ! WHAT'S FOUR-THOUSAND AND FIFTY-TWO TIMES TEN?"**_Wait,, what? She was called first? She wasn't prepared for this. She started to calculate it in her head but was too late. _**"WRONG! IT WAS FOURTY-THOUSAND FIVE-HUNDRED TWENTY! BE PREPARED!"**_She said nothing. All she did was gently lay her head down, and covered her eyes with her hands. She didn't pay any attention to the class. She only heard the bell ring. She grabbed her bag and walked out, her eyes covered by her hair. "I can't believe it. What student has time to think of the answer to 50,435 times 302 in the span of five seconds? Just insane." She heard a student say. "My brain is mush now. I just want to go home." She heard a girl say. "whiner.." "What did you just say?" The girl said, as she spun around on her heel. "Whiner. You're one." Gaz said as she walked by, her hair still covering her face. When she was sure that she was a while away from the other girl, she brushed her hair out of her eyes revealing red-eyes. Eyes that have just gotten done crying.

"Man, and I thought you weren't a wuss."

Gaz stopped in her tracks. She turned around to see Zim of all people leaning up against a wall, near a door. "I'm going to turn your face to mush..." She said with not much intimidation behind it. "Well don't do that inside, you'll have witnesses. We can settle this outside." He said as he pushed the door open. "How the..." She said, as Zim held out a screwdriver in his hand, which he quickly put behind his back. "Ohh. I get it." She said as she quickly glanced around her. "Are you sure?" "I never knew you as the cautious type." He said as he started to walk out the door. "Fine. Let's go." She said as the two of them walked out the door, the loud *BANG* followed them as they walked to the sidewalk.


	8. The Walk

"So, what do you wanna do?" Zim asked Gaz, who was wondering the same thing. "I thought you were leading me!" She said. "Well, I didn't expect to get this far." He said as he checked the watch on his wrist. "I didn't know you had a watch. Why weren't you wearing it when you left?" She asked, "I don't have one. This is this is the Dib-boy's." He said non-nonchalantly. "Zim, you better give that back to me, it's a very special watch! Give it back you filthy alien!" Gaz said, doing her best Dib impression. That caused Zim to roar in laughter. "Do it again, Do it again!" He said, egging her on. "You shouldn't do that while you live under my roof! Well, it's my Dad's house, BUT STILL!" She said, again in the voice.

"You children should be in school."

Gaz knew that voice from anywhere. The person she hated more than Dib. "You should be there too, you useless slab of matter." Zim said, still not turning around to see the person the voice was coming from. "Shut it, nerd." The voice said to him, "Go back inside, and I won't tell the principal." "Shut it, Iggins," Gaz said to him, "I have a reason to be out. You don't. So go." She said. "Well, I should be told this then. Go ahead. Tell." He says. Gaz struggles with coming up with an excuse. She still doesn't turn around for the fact that he may see her face. "Her Mom died, and she needs to be alone. So go, move along. She needs her space." Zim said to him. He was facing him now. "Well, she has an excuse. What's yours, freak?" Iggins said to him. That ticked Zim off to no end. He started to approach Iggins. Slowly, and menacingly. "Oh, I'm the freak? Trying to help a friend is worthy of being called a 'Freak of Nature'? HA! You should look at yourself. Now go. And I may spare you." Zim said, turning on his PAK to sprout legs and carry him. The legs then bend down, which has Zim face to face with Iggins, who is freaked out to no end.

**"RUN."**

He ran away. Oh, he ran alright. Into the school building where Zim and Gaz left from. Zim deactivates his PAK Unit's legs and walks back over to Gaz. She was speechless. No one had ever done that type of thing for her. Ever. "So, what do you want to do again?" Zim said as he caught up to her. She couldn't say anything. She was still in shock with what just happened. "WHAT. DO. YOU. WANT. TO. DO? ENGLISH. DO. YOU. SPEAK. IT?" Zim said to her, like she was still in preskool. "I-I-I- Food?" She said out of nowhere. "Sounds good. I'll pay?" He said. "YOU HAVE MONEY?!" She said, astonished. "Two words. Dib's. Wallet." "OHH. 'You got my wallet too? Jesus, Zim, go back to your house!'" She said in her Dib voice. That made Zim laugh again. And Zim's laughing, made Gaz laugh as they walked off to the restaurant.


	9. They're Back

"Where is she? A better question would be where's Zim..." Dib contemplated as he paced back and forth in the living room. He got home from skool a few hours ago and he hasn't seen Gaz or Zim since they entered the skool with him that morning. "I'm sure she's fine son, now come help your father with SCIENCE!" Dib's father, Dr. Membrane said to him. "Not now, Dad, I'm thinking about something.." He said aloud. "If it doesn't have anything to do with Quantum Nuclear Physics I don't want to hear it." Dr. Membrane said. He was in the middle of a very important experiment involving putting a world destroying weapon and a smaller version of a human brain inside of the mind of a small rat. "Are you sure you can't do that in the lab, Dad?" Dib said to him with his fingers holding his nose closed so he wouldn't smell the stench of the disgusting rat his father fished out off the street. "I told you, the lab's being cleaned right now. I don't want to get it dirty." He told his son. "SO YOU DECIDED TO MAKE THE LIVING ROOM DIRTY INSTEAD?" Dib said, angered at his father. "WHY WOULD YOU-" The sounds of footsteps and laughing stopped his words in his throat. "See, I told you she would be fine." His father told him. Dib didn't pay him any mind. Instead he dashed into the kitchen closing the door, leaving a crack for him to look through.

The two of them entered the house, talking and giggling. "'Hey Dad.'" Gaz said in her Dib voice. Zim followed that by laughing. _"Why would they talk about me like that..."_ Dib thought to himself. "Hello Daughter. Your brother was worried sick about you. And you, boy." Dr Membrane said to them. "Well, where is he?" Zim said to him _"Please don't tell them... Please don't tell them... Please-" _

"He's in the kitchen."

_"WHY!"_ Dib thought as he looked around for a hiding place. He saw a cabinet, slightly ajar, big enough for him to hide in. He jumped inside, shutting the door behind him, just as Gaz and Dib came inside. "'Looks like he's not here.'" Gaz said, causing Zim to laugh, louder than before. "What *gasp* time *gasp* is *gasp * it *Gasp*?" Zim asked, out of breath. "*yawn* 9:30" Gaz said. "Well, I'm going to sleep..." Zim said. Dib could hear footsteps coming from outside his hiding place. He shifted back and forth. "G'night." She told him. The two left the room, allowing Dib to leave his spot. _"Why would they laugh at me..."_ He thought as he yawned. _"Well, no use worrying about that. I better get some sleep."_


End file.
